114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



ordinary four-and-a-half-inch plate, with eitrhteen inches of teak 

 backinij, and an inner iron skin ; the whole well braced and 

 stren;2;thcned. Half tlie target was bolted on Mr. IJasconib's j^lan 

 of India-rubber pads, the other half of the bolts being secured 

 by j\Ir. Paget's steel cup washers. At the conclusion of the ex- 

 periments it was found that Mr. Bascomb's system had stood 

 better than ^Ir. Pagt't's ; but then it appears that the shots almost 

 invarial)ly struck that part of the target boltcsd on Mr. Paget's 

 principle, while that i)orlion fastened with Mr. Bascomb's washers 

 was scarcely touched. The experiments were commenced by 

 firing a steel shell on Major Alderson's plan, having a screwed 

 base, and being charged with three pounds of loose jjowder. 

 The shell penetrated the four-and-a-half-iueh plate, but did no 

 more, except to exjilode backwai-d from the face of the target. 



The next shell, wiiieh was of the best steel, of Mr. Firth's, passed 

 through the plate anil entered the wood backing, but it exploded 

 outward as the first had done. The third shell struck on the edge 

 of the hole made by the first, passing easily through and explod- 

 intr in the teak backing, which it set on fire. Other shells were 

 tricil, with similar results, in some instances ; in others tliey were 

 even less satisfactory, some of Mr. Firth's shells bursting before 

 they reached the target: a few exploded in the gun. Three of 

 Sir William Armstrong's conical-headed shells, made on the Bel- 

 gian pattern, witli a sharp cone, were fired, and produced a simi- 

 lar efi'ect to those previously fired. After all the steel shells had 

 been tried. Major Palliser's chilled-iron sliells were tested, and the 

 first shot proveil the superiority of the system over all the others. 

 The shell struck an iminjured i^ortion of the target, and went 

 through the plate and backings so quickly as not to explode until 

 it had passed beyond. The backing whei-e the shell had passed 

 through was splintered into fragments ; and had th(! ol)ject been 

 the side of a ship, instead of a target, the results would have been 

 most damaging to a gun's crew at quarters. The charge of the 

 second Palliser shell did not explode; but, after passing through 

 the target, the projectile broke itself up into fragments, which were 

 sent spinning al)out in all directions with a velocity neai'ly as dan- 

 gerous as an explosion would have imparted to them. 



The results of these two shots were so conclusive that the charge 

 of powder was reduced to eighteen pounds, with which the third 

 shell was fired. This shell missed the target, and went away to 

 sea; the next, however, which was fii'cd Avithout a bui-sting 

 charge, went through the target, breaking up and scattering its 

 fragments as before. The charge was then further reduced to 

 sixteen pounds of powder, which was nearly equal to increasing 

 the range from two hundred yards to one thousand yards, while 

 the velocity of each shot, on sti-iking, was less than thirteen hun- 

 dred feet per second. But for all this, the next shell penetrated 

 the plate and backing, and was only stopped by coming in con- 

 tact with one of the heavy struts which suiij^oi'ted the target from 

 behind, and which it broke. At this stage of proceedings, the Oi'd- 

 nance Select Committee ordered the firing to cease, considering 

 a continuation would only be a waste of time and powder. This 



